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BBQ King – Las Vegas, Nevada

Chinese food is no longer a specificity in Las Vegas. We use to go to a Chinese location that was closer to the South end of the strip, and now there seems to be a lot of new options. We came by BBQ King for a quick late lunch, and the place seems quite reasonable! The location of this restaurant is a stand alone building in a strip plaza – so there was a lot of parking spaces and made it easy to get in and out of the parking lot.

I ordered the Beef Stomach with Ho Fun and it was actually on special for $4 only! The portion size didn’t seem any smaller, or if it is, then they have large bowls of noodles!

Another noodle dish that we ordered was a Hong Kong Style Wonton Noodles and these were pretty decent! The best part is, it was also on special for $4! You really can’t complain for a nice hot bowl of noodles for less than what you’d pay for a fast food hamburger combo. The wontons was quite large in size, and it was stuffed with a large piece of shrimp and just a little bit of pork to bind. Sure, the bowl only had 5 of them, but at least it was cheap in price and the quality was there!

After 2 soup dishes, and still wanting “noodles”, we decided to order a lo mein, which is basically taking the wonton noodles and not putting it in the soup, but instead you’re mixing it with flavours of the soup (on the side). This makes for a drier noodle dish and the soup helps mix it. To mix something is called lo in Chinese, so essentially, you’re just mixing the noodles. Anyway, we tried tried Pork and Vegetable Lo Mein from BBQ King and a large plate of noodles came out. The soup wasn’t on the side as they did the mixing for us already. There was a lot of pieces of pork mixed throughout the noodles and vegetables almost as a garnish. The lo mein was really good and flavourful even though it didn’t look like much. They did their lo mein with oyster sauce, sesame oil and of course the soup – and this is quite standard for lo mein. Overall, this noodle dish was delicious even though standard.

Finally, realizing that we needed another vegetable dish, something interesting caught our eye when we saw a dish Fermented Bean Curd with cooked Lettuce. The title is the direct translation of the actual dish, as I have no idea what they called it on the menu (I didn’t see or pick it). Usually when we order the cooked lettuce, it comes cooked and flavoured with oil and oyster sauce. This one was a little more unique as they used the fermented tofu and I quite enjoy the flavour of it. It was subtle and added another dimension of flavour that I wasn’t use to in cooked lettuce.

This is a very decent restaurant especially when it came to portion size and price. There isn’t anything too special – as it doesn’t deviate from the normal Chinese food, but it was good food! Definitely a place I would return to if I was in the area and wanting Chinese food quickly and inexpensively!

BBQ King

5650 Spring Mountain Rd
Las Vegas, NV
(702) 364-8688

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MGM Grand Tower Deluxe King Suite

Recently, I went to Las Vegas for a very short get-away and I stayed at the MGM Grand Resort right on the Strip. It’s closer to the South end, but it was a nice location regardless!

The immaculate detailing of the hotel room itself, let alone the rest of the resort was great! The suite was tastefully decorated and the use of their signature Lion Head symbol throughout the hotel was great!

One of my favourite features of the room, that is slightly useless – but wonderful would be the light on top of the TV Armoire! When you open up the doors it would expose the TV, and there is a little push button that says “LIGHT” and it illuminates the top of the armoire. I chose to use this light while I was out of the hotel room, so when I return, it wouldn’t be pitch black. It was a great alternative as I didn’t need to turn on all the lights.

MGM Grand Tower Deluxe King Bathroom

The bathroom was really large, and the shower was a low tub walk in bath with a shower faucet. The low tub really makes it accessible for those guests with limited mobility – even though I did bang my arm on the handrail that was on the shower walls a few times, it is a necessary feature for hotel & resort bathrooms. The tub area was tiled with large tiles and enhanced with smaller and darker tiles that really gave a modern feel to the bathroom. The sink area offered a lot of counter top space and room for you to sprawl out if you wanted to. Or, if you were rooming for other people, it made it easy for everyone to have their belongings out and still have room to work with.

MGM Grand Tower Deluxe King Bathroom Amenities

The bathroom amenities is one of my favourite memories of this resort. They are all Jasmine scented and when you wash your hands or anything like that, you immediately get a subtle scent of Jasmine – which reminds me of the Jasmine Tea that I drink at home. It was really heavenly scent that wasn’t over powering in any way. The soap that they use in the shower was a lovely Jasmine scented body massage bar, so it actually had the beads built into the soap. It was a nice touch and much appreciated after long walk up and down the strip to increase circulation.

The room is quite spacious and it has a wonderful lounging area with a large canape but a lot like a chaise longue. It was really nice and it added dimension and visual interest to what could be your “standard” hotel room. The room also had a large desk and the working surface was huge! I was able to have my laptop out and some of my work – and I didn’t feel cluttered at all! This is a great hotel room and even though it’s already not my first time there, I would be back again! The bed was large and luxurious and very comfortable. I’d fall asleep in no time with a king bed complete with 4 king sized pillows! The comforter was the right size and thickness and everything was really clean!

I booked myself my stay online with Las Vegas Hotel Casino Deals, and it was wonderful! My last stay in Vegas, I stayed at the Aria Resort & Casino, and it was another wonderful experience!

The room in MGM Grand doesn’t have as many in room amenities as some other resorts. This room did have an in-suite safe which was large enough to fit my laptop, and all the belongings I needed locked up. The room didn’t have a mini fridge which would have come handy as I did want to bring some left over dinners with me this one evening. The high speed internet that you pay for with the room classified under “Resort Fee” was super slow. I would understand if it was free and slow, but it was a slow and choppy internet which I wasn’t really happy about. But, I guess when you’re in Vegas, you’re not in your room a lot. I was wanting to update my blog throughout the trip so I could stay on top of things but I had to revert to making a list and doing it when I got home because of the internet problem. The hotel wasn’t super busy until Wednesday (Right before American Thanksgiving & Black Friday), so it wasn’t like there were a lot of guests connected onto the internet.

The housekeeping staff was excellent as well. They kept my room clean, and fulfilled all my requests! The towers were big and fluffy, and it was just a great stay overall!

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Holiday Inn Kenilworth

We went to England for my sisters wedding in September 2011, and it was lovely. It was held at the Kenilworth Castle which was a beautiful location. The entire city of Kenilworth in Warwichshire was really lovely. It seemed like an up-scale small town.

We flew into Birmingham Airport as it was the closet airport from Kenilworth and my sister picked us up. We stayed at the Holiday Inn Kenilworth which was a beautiful hotel with lots of amenities in and around the hotel.

Holiday Inn Kenilworth

Eating options was plenty in Kenilworth, and the location of this hotel was ideal for ones who like to eat – such as myself. The hotel is located right in the middle of of a great traffic circle (roundabouts) with major streets for dining. We ate at the Starbucks inside the hotel a few times for lunches and snack, and The Almanack. We also had a fantastic dinner at Indian Edge which is just down the street of The Square and it’s a fantastic East Indian cuisine restaurant which I highly recommend.

Besides all the dining and shopping in boutiques, the hotel was beautiful. It feels really new, or newly renovated. It was large, the staff was quite friendly – after they warmed up to us being familiar faces, and the rooms were large and clean.

We stayed in the Executive Suite as we needed a room with more space to get ready, and of course a king bed was worth it! It seems that England usually has either 2 twin beds or 1 queen – sometimes a double as standard sizes. So, with the upgrade, we got more space to get ready for the wedding, and visiting of other family/friend members.

The location of the room was fantastic as I love rooms that are far from the elevator. This was the perfect room for me as it was at the very end of a hallway. It had an extra window in the room which was something I loved during the day, and in the evening, the shades darkened the room really well!

Overall, the room and the hotel was fantastic! I would return to this area and stay at the Holiday Inn Kenilworth again anytime. You can see the walk through of my room from the clip below!

Holiday Inn Kenilworth

Abbey End 212, Warwickshire,
CV8 1ED England

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Cookie Occasion – Calgary, Alberta

During a visit to see Fiasco Souped Up Food Truck in Calgary Marda Loop, I went to a place for cookies called Cookie Occasion which easily drew me to here as I love cookies.

I got to go get myself another cookie as I promised myself! This time, I got the Triple Sin Cookie and it was sinfully delicious. These cookies are made of the three common Callebaut chocolate chunks – dark, milk and white and they are all mixed into a great cookie dough! There’s really nothing quite like it!

The other cookie we purchased was Amaretto Almond Cookie and within the first bite, my mouth was exploding with almond flavours. These cookies are mixed in with Callebaut milk chocolate chunks, almonds and a splash of amaretto! We’ve never had a more almond tasting cookie before and it was really wonderful!

As much as I like cookies from anywhere, I can not get over how wonderfully delicious these cookies are, and the texture of the cookie is unlike any other. These cookies are a must try if you haven’t done so yet! You’ll see the difference, and you’ll thank me later! 🙂 But, note their hours are Monday – Saturday 10AM to 5PM!

Cookie Occasion

2107 – 33rd Avenue SW
Calgary, AB
(403) 246-6700

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The Noodle Bus – Food Truck Calgary

One of Calgary’s newest Street Food would be The Noodle Bus which is a food truck with Vietnamese cuisine on-board! This truck is wonderful, fast and delicious as it offers great quality food at reasonable price — really quickly! It’s actually faster to get food from The Noodle Bus than it is to order and wait at the food court.

We tried a few things just to get a good sample of the food. The first thing we ordered was the Lemongrass Chicken Skewer and it came in a little tray of 3 skewers covered in sauce. The sauce was really good, but it seems like they put a little too much alcohol which was weird as normally they don’t have alcohol in lemongrass chicken… but, regardless, the taste wasn’t bad, just a little off! And, it’s okay to me, as they just opened up less than a week. As for the lemon grass flavour, that we definitely there and I enjoyed my skewers! It got a little messy to eat as the chicken didn’t slide off the skewers, but that’s why I got paper napkins!

We had an appetizer which was the Springrolls and it came in a tray of 3 springrolls. These were gems as we loved it! Even though it was cold out, it stayed hot forever! It was really crispy on the outside and the inside was packed with goodness!! It is one of the best fried springrolls I’ve had in awhile, and I’m so excited to say it was off a food truck! What are others doing!? Oh well.

Finally, we had a Beef Noodle Soup and we didn’t do the Satay flavour. I think the soup was prepared for customers to order it with the satay sauce, so I found the soup to be lacking in some salt. This does make sense, otherwise when you do order it with Satay, it would be way too salty. It was alright anyway, because we poured the rest of the fish sauce from the spring roll in and turn the bowl of noodles to extra-delicious! The saltiness from the fish sauce was really all it was needing! The bowl of noodles was very large in size and probably bigger than some local restaurants that charge more for it!

This was a wonderful truck, and I think it will do well – in any season as it can warm you up with their selection of hot food, or cool you down with refreshing vermicelli bowls. I’m sure I’ll be returning when we cross paths with the food trucks again! I love the food truck community! 🙂